Category: Colorado Mileposts
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“…Active Rattlesnake Incident…”
I was just finishing up my hike when I heard a woman scream. As a good citizen, I went back to check that everything was okay (or not). The woman was standing on the concrete path, with her two dogs. Five feet further on, a rattlesnake was stretched halfway across the concrete. The woman and…
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Swallowtail Butterflies
Several weeks ago, we had orange and black Monarch butterflies migrating through the Front Range. They seem to have moved on. But we’ve still got big butterflies in the area — yellow and black swallowtails. I’ve seen two different types of swallowtails. The western tiger swallowtail is lives along waterways and in woodlands, as well…
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Monarch Butterfly Migration
Thanks to the nice weather, I worked out in the yard for a good bit last weekend. As I worked, I saw and heard our normal back yard wildlife — feisty squirrels, black-capped chickadees, house finches, Northern flickers, dragonflies and big yellow swallow-tail butterflies. Then I saw something unusual — an orange butterfly. I assumed…
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Need a break from the heat
Denver hit an all time high temperature of 105o F (40.5o C) on Thursday. Fires rage throughout the West. Politics are just as heated. I need a break from the heat. Although I couldn’t get to the high country recently, I still have some good photographs from my trip up to tundra last month. These…
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Snow pack. Or Not.
In mountains where snow builds up — any snowy mountains — there is a unique form of water storage. It is the snow itself, and it is called snow pack. Here in Colorado, we rely on the delayed release of water from snow pack melt to slowly recharge the resevoirs into early summer. Above is…
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Nest watch
Yesterday I went out to the Red-tailed Hawk nest that I’ve been watching. Here’s what I saw: As I arrived, I saw the flash of orange of a Bullock’s oriole. These showy birds live in the mountain shrub community of the foothills. Always a pleasure to see them. Several Killdeer live in the marshy…
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A Little Housekeeping…
My husband and I were in the back yard recently, and saw our resident black-capped chickadee family checking out a gourd bird house we put out for them. First, they enlarged the opening a touch. Then mama chickadee checked out the inside. She brought some bedding in to see how it worked with the decor.…
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Hawk Nest Monitoring Begins
As many of you know, I volunteer for the Jefferson County Open Space along the Front Range of Colorado. Last year, I worked on a new-to-me program, hawk nest monitoring. The nest I watched last year seems to have been abandoned, so I moved to a new spot this year, watching Red-Tailed Hawks. So far…
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Great Horned Owls Laying Eggs
I got up to let the dogs out around 4:00 this morning. While I was standing at the door waiting for them to finish, I heard Great Horned Owls hooting back and forth. Great Horned Owls are laying their eggs now so their young will have hatched by the time prey like rabbits and mice…
Amy Law, Science Geek 